Metrolinx eyes update for aging and troubled Presto system
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Metrolinx is looking at moving beyond the existing technology in the problematic Presto transit fare system, including a change that would allow transit riders to use their credit cards.
Premier Doug Ford says he wasn’t a fan of Presto back when he was a Toronto councillor.
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“I remember voting at city council when I was there and I voted against it,” Ford said Monday.
Metrolinx President and CEO Phil Verster said riders have adopted the Presto card in large numbers and customer satisfaction levels are high, but added the technology needs to evolve.
“We need to move the Presto product as it stands now into the new age and onto a new platform,” Verster said. “We’re busy finalizing a way forward that would put Presto on your mobile device, it would allow for open transactions with credit cards on the system and a couple of exciting features that would take Presto into the next generation.”
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The TTC has reported numerous issues with maintenance of Presto readers and estimates resulting in fare losses at $3.4 million — a figure the city’s auditor general has not disputed.
In a 2012 annual report, the Ontario’s auditor general reported that Metrolinx had already spent $360 million developing the system, and called it “among the more expensive fare-card systems in the world.”
Mayor John Tory said Metrolinx was very responsive when called upon to incorporate a two-hour transfer and low-income fare pass discount into Presto software, but stressed the need to move as quickly as possible to adopt the advanced technology already found around the world.
“We are very clear on the fact that we are not satisfied at this moment with what’s going on,” Tory said. “There will be various claims back and forth, I’m sure, that will occupy lawyers and others, but the fact that’s really important is that we’re sitting at the table trying to work through these things.”
The city is Presto’s biggest customer, writing a cheque for tens of millions of dollars annually, he said.
“I always like to make sure you look at the glass as both half full and half empty because that is the case with Presto,” Tory said. “The half empty part is a continuing concern that we have about a number of things we would identify as shortcomings.”
Tory, Ford and Transportation Minister Caroline Mulroney held a media conference in Etobicoke Tuesday to tout their joint $28.5-billion plan to build four transit projects — the Yonge North Subway Extension, the Eglinton West Crosstown Extension, a three-stop Scarborough Subway Extension and the Ontario Line.
All participates called on the federal government to step up with its share of funding.
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